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All-American honors continue for Smith at NIU

DeKALB, Ill. – The All-America honors continue to pile up for Northern Illinois University sophomore Sutton Smith, making the defensive end from St. Charles, Missouri one of the most decorated All-Americans in NIU football’s major college history.

Wednesday, Smith was named a second team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), becoming just the second Huskie ever honored by the AFCA, after LeShon Johnson in 1993. On Tuesday, Smith became just the third Huskie, and the first since Michael Turner in 2003, to earn first or second team All-America recognition from The Sporting News when he was named to the magazine’s second team.

Smith, who leads the nation and set NIU school records for both tackles for loss and quarterback sacks, has now been named a first or second team All-American by each of the five organizations considered for NCAA consensus status.  The only previous NIU player named to the All-America team of the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the Associated Press, the Football Writer’s Association of America, The Sporting News and the AFCA is Johnson, a tailback who was a unanimous first team selection in 1993. 

Smith is now the most decorated defensive player in NIU Football history. 

In addition, USA Today and Bleacher Report placed Smith on their first team All-America teams, and he was named to CBS Sports’ second team, giving him 11 total first or second team honors this year. 

In 2017, he broke an NIU school record for single season tackles for loss that stood at 20 since 1984 and finished the regular season with 28.5 TFLs.  NIU’s single season mark for quarterback sacks also fell by the wayside with the old mark of 12 held by Scott Kellar (1984) and Larry English (2006), surpassed by Smith’s 14 sacks in 2017.

The 2017 MAC Defensive Player of the Year, who was also a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award as the nation’s best defensive end, Smith is 3.5 tackles for loss away from the NCAA single season record of 32, set by Western Michigan’s Jason Babin in 2003.  He and the Huskies will close out the season in the 2017 Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit when they take on Duke on Tuesday, Dec. 26. 

More than half of Smith’s 56 total tackles in 2017 went for losses. He scored on a 16-yard strip, sack and fumble return versus Bowling Green on October 21 and picked up a fumble and ran 58 yards for a score versus Western Michigan to break the NIU record for fumble return touchdowns in a season. He also ranks fourth nationally in fumble recoveries with three on the year and his 73 quarterback pressures lead the nation.

Sutton Smith 2017 All-America Honors (as of 12-13-17)

  • AFCA* (second team)
  • Associated Press* (second team)
  • Football Writer’s Association of America* (first team)
  • The Sporting News* (second team)
  • Walter Camp* (first team)                                                                                                    
  • The All-American website (first team)
  • Bleacher Report (first team)
  • CBS Sports (second team)
  • PFF (first team)
  • Sports Illustrated/SI.com (second team)
  • USA Today (first team)
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